travel-related thoughts

Just throwing some thoughts up here so they stop bouncing around in my head. Photos added to break them up.

Andrea laughed at me yesterday, as I told her about my trip and kept mentioning places I want to visit again. She’s a much more seasoned (& avid) traveler than I am, and reminded me how I proclaimed to her, years ago, “Ugh! I just don’t understand why people travel. Can’t we just enjoy where we are? I have ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE TO GO PLACES!” (Paraphrase, with added whine to emphasize how easy it is to judge younger versions of self.)

International travel is apparently an acquired taste. Also, since I tend to learn from my mistakes, it makes sense that this trip would be much more successful than the last. (And it leads me to hope that my next trip would be even better.)

Another friend, when I briefly told him about my trip and where we went, merely commented on how great it must have been to be exposed to so many different people and places. Instead of commenting on how beautiful or historical or exciting it must have been, he said, “That must have been eye-opening.”

I need to talk with him more about this, and learn his method of travel.

Before this trip, I not only read Art of Travel, which helped with managing expectations more than anything else, but I asked lots of questions. How do my friends travel? Why? What do they first notice when in a new place? What are their favorite ways to spend time while traveling? What do they hope to learn/understand? How much research do they do in advance? (In this area, I’m still trying to find a workable balance.)

Not included: a mini-rant about the frivolity of travel and the icky escapism that I want to lash out against. Let’s just wrap that up with all of our rants about instagram culture, and maybe let’s try not to be too judgmental, and instead I’ll just be thankful for the privilege and joys of international travel.

(Photos taken in the Swiss Alps, from the Bernina Express. You’ll hear more about them later.)